A Quantitative Spatial Model of Urban Sprawl and its Application to Dehradun Urban Agglomeration, India

The unregulated and scattered pattern of urban footprints is termed as urban sprawl. Urban sprawl being a dynamic phenomenon is facing many uncertainties with respect to methods for studying its dynamism. The present study aims at quantifying the urban sprawl process in Dehradun Urban Agglomeration (DUA), India, based on two criteria, viz. urban built-up density and open space fragmentation. On the basis of these two criteria, six structural classes, viz. urban, suburban and rural built-up, urbanized open space, captured open space and rural open land, were delineated. The spatio-temporal variation of these structural classes provided the basis for defining the urban sprawl patterns, i.e. infill, extension and leapfrog. The results revealed that urbanization patterns in DUA valley shifted from leapfrog to extension and then to infill pattern. The study thus attempts to develop a model for objectively defining the process of urban sprawl.